Marx flashed at top speed and in a second he covered the distance of about 20 meters. He skidded on his knees as he roared at the sky. He reached the blocks and his hands trembled.
His heart beat fast as he felt his blood go cold. If he killed the little guy, then he was never going to forgive himself in this life or the next one. Maybe only Marx thought that there was a next life and past life.
His eyes turned red in rage and the ice blocks stood no chance as he punched at them turning them into powder. His rage was uncontrollable. His breathing was fast. All he could think of was Jerry's condition and he kept mumbling.
"Please be safe... Be safe..." Even as the backpack came into view he felt like his world come to a gliding halt, it was flattened. He crawled backwards. His eyes bloodshot.
"No... It can't be... I can't be... Al... Alo... Alone... You... Ca...n't lea...ve..." Marx spoke these words and shed a tear.
Then another river of tears shot from his left eye. There was nothing that he had come to to get fond of like Jerry. Jerry even felt like he was his small brother. The little guy never removed the shirt he stole from him. He always carried his backpack.
But that was not all, Jerry played with him. Even if they could not talk, they had a tacit understanding of each other and they knew exactly what the other wanted. He never once felt lonely with the little guy on his shoulder
The little guy had been his only source of laughter when he was all alone. Yet, due to his his irrationality and ignorance, he had ended the little guy's life so soon. Did fate have to give him such a big blow?
Why take the only thing he cared about? The tears never stopped. He could not bring himself to calm down. How was he going to face the little guy in the Afterlife? Was he going to understand or was he going to blame him for taking his life?
Wasn't it better to die of hunger than get killed by someone you leaned on and had complete trust in? Marx understood this thoughts and even more tears fell. One could not match this side of him with that masochistic side of his.
He wiped the tears but they kept falling. He reached for the backpack with trembling hands. One could think that it was due to the cold but it was different. That was the last abode of the little guy.
He was never going to use this backpack again. It was it that had the remains of his best buddy, Jerry. As his hands reached the backpack, he felt like a hot iron rod was sunk into the middle of his heart. His only question was why?
He picked the backpack and hugged it tightly on his chest. If he got the chance to go back in time, he would definitely not do his previous action. He was in that state for more than five minutes.
Reminiscing about his actions. He now felt like he was nothing but a murderer. After calming down, he turned back to stand up and infront of him he saw the little guy barely close to his knees height. He could have been happy but he was not.
"I know that you are now in the Afterlife. I am sorry I killed you. I hope that your ghost will rest in peace and not haunt me. I know you died and am at fault for that. You don't have to rub it in by eating fish.
" Fine I will apologize. Sorry. I hope that you can just rest in peace. Also, don't forget ro forgive your buddy. I never wanted to kill you. You know I never would ..." Marx stopped and wiped the tears that started falling once again.
During their first encounter, he had wanted more than nothing but kill this little guy but after the seven months, he wanted nothing to ever separate them in this life. But he just fulfilled his original wish and had killed the little guy.
The little guy was only two meters away infront of him. He had been chewing on fish. He realized he would die of hunger thus he had left the backpack as soon as he heard the explosion. Currently, he was feasting on the fifth fish.
If you are talking of the explosion, that one? It was nothing but child's play evading the ice shards and blocks. What it had done was enjoy the fish that littered the entire place. It had been behind Marx for the entire time eating fist after fish.
There was a whole pile of them on its feet. It had its eyes wide open when it heard Marx's words. It could not quite understand why make quite a big deal after a backpack had just been crashed by ice blocks?
Was he so attached to it that he could shed tears for it? Also, why was he hugging it? Just what part in his heart did his backpack take. It blinked severally when it heard Marx stop and more tears flowing from his eye. All this for a bag?
"Please, am sorry don't haunt me..." Marx begged and banged his head on the ice again and again. He was kowtowing. Jerry picked several fish on its hands and walked towards Marx.
He then climbed on his head and and Marx stopped.
"Please don't take me with you... I will come over when my time comes," he begged.he stopped his kowtow and looked towards the little guy who had jumped on his shoulder.
Now that he thought of it, the little guy had weight.d. Did ghosts have weight? He was sure that they did not. He felt a tinge of hope building up in himself. He looked at the backpack and for the first time clearly and calmly, he noted that there was not a single drop of blood on it.
It was only that the backpack had been squeezed so much that it appeared out of shape. Marx realized that he had just connected the dots too quickly and he had drawn the conclusion that the little guy was dead.
In this line of thought, he had assumed Jerry was dead and that even after he appeared, he had thought that it was a ghost. Did animals even have ghosts? With his mind cleared, he felt his mood brighten up
Without another thought, he picked the little guy and hugged him tightly. It leaned its head on his shoulder out of breath. Marx was hugging him hard enough to break his bones.
But he did not care. He was the happiest man at the moment.
"I am sorry I put you in danger. I never thought that I would ever feel this relieved in my life. Jerry you are my light and you just can't put me into a trance like that. Don't ever scare me again. I will never put you in danger again," Marx said not stopping the tears that were trickling down his cheeks.
He rubbed his chin on the little guy's back with relieved smile plastered on his lips. But his moment ws short lived as Jerry slipped through his embrace and sat on his shoulder. Marx laughed it off and stood up. The backpack in his hands.
Marx looked around and his eyes finally landed on the bike. But it could no longer be termed as a bike. What it was before was a bike but it was currently nothing but scraps of metal. He sighed. It was not that he was going to ride the bike here anyway.
But iit still broke his heart. It had accompanied him the same way Jerry had. It seemed he had gotten Jerry back but the bike was gone and gone forever. He did not waste any more time.
He collected a no small number of fish and put them in his backpack. He then scanned the area and he found that there was a section with wood. He went in that direction and finally came to a wooden raised cabin around 30 centimeters.
He might have thought of taking rest but had he not been in a coma for three weeks? What was the use for resting. In short, this house was nothing but firewood in his eyes. He fell into action as soon as he entered the door.
To his disappointment, there were no furnitures in the house. It was one roomed and empty. Well, no furniture meant less firewood. He would just go for the the timber that was used to build the house.
Without second thoughts, he hit the wall and four pieces of timber fell off the wall to the outside. Marx wallked outside and picked the timber. He brought it back inside and sat on the wooden floor.
Without hesitation again, he started breaking the timber into small pieces with punches of brute strength. After a while, he had enough wood and used the method he had learn from the system to light the fire
He rubbed the pieces of wood together and a smoke started materializing from the wooden floor. Marx realized his mistake and grinned but he did not stop. He waited until the fire was lit and he broke the wood round the fire half a meter.
It was such that the fire fell down to the bottom on the snow. It was an even better fireplace. The fire lit the room and after a while the temperature in the room rose. Marx ensured a consistent supply of firewood and a fire that did not reach destructive levels.
He then removed more timber from the wall and brought it back inside. He broke it into smaller pieces and turned it all to firewood. After it was enough, he settled next to the fire with Jerry on the other side.
He poured all the fish to his side and started roasting them. He then turned to the system. He had a lot to catch up with the system. There were skills he did not know about...